The absence of actual matches at this time of year leaves a void which tends to be filled by transfer speculation.

Mind you, it's not every day that the player in question actually joins in.

But Tom Pope made us smile with his reaction to a transfer gossip site which reckons he could be on his way to National League outfit Fylde.

The Vale skipper has two years left on his Vale contract after signing a new deal half-way through last season.

It's fair to say that, without Pope's goals, the Vale would have lost their Football League status during a tough period in the club's history. It's hard to see how they could have stayed up in 2017/18 without Pope scoring 19 goals for a team that stayed up by a single point.

Vale were a little more comfortable this past season, avoiding the drop by eight points, although Pope's 14 goals were still hugely valuable.

Either way, the Vale skipper was clearly mystified to be linked with a move.

Vale have relied heavily on Pope in the last couple of years but will be strengthening that department this summer. John Askey has been in advanced talks with a striker having said his priority is to add goals to his squad.

Vale scored just 39 league goals this past season, the lowest total in League Two.